1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate carrier management system and a program. In particular, the present invention is suitably applied to a management system for a carrier that stores semiconductor wafers.
2. Background Art
Generally, in semiconductor device fabrication lines, a plurality of wafers is placed in a carrier (container) before they are carried and processed by the carrier. The semiconductor device fabrication step includes such steps as pre-diffusion processing (cleaning), diffusion processing, photolithographic processing, chemical processing, ion implantation, and metalization. Each step is repeated until the completion of the product.
In such processing in each step, contamination of carriers by wafers poses a problem. For example, since the photolithographic process uses a photoresist, the carriers are contaminated by the wafers. In a step in which such contamination raises a problem, a measure has been taken such as replacement of one carrier with another beforehand.
The conventional method for replacing one carrier with another, however, has a problem that the carrier transfer and replacement work are complicated. A representative diffusion step will be described with reference to FIG. 11. In the figure, reference numeral 110 denotes a pre-diffusion processing apparatus; 120 a carrier to be supplied; 130 a removed empty carrier; 140 an empty carrier to be used after processing; 150 a processed product; 160 a carrier cleaner; 170 a diffusion processing apparatus; and 180 a carrier replacing apparatus.
As preprocessing, the diffusion step includes a wafer cleaning step generally called xe2x80x9cpre-diffusion processingxe2x80x9d. The pre-diffusion processing is performed by the pre-diffusion processing apparatus 110 in FIG. 11. Generally, before and after this step, a carrier used in this process is replaced with another carrier of different type after the process.
That is, the carrier 120 to be supplied containing products is loaded into the pre-diffusion processing apparatus 110 for pre-diffusion processing. At that time, a general-type carrier is used as the carrier 120 to be supplied. When the carrier 120 to be supplied is given, the wafers on the carrier are taken into the pre-diffusion processing apparatus 110, and a request for unloading the emptied carrier is issued. Here, the empty carrier 130 to be removed is manually unloaded. The removed empty carrier 130 is supplied to the carrier cleaner 160 for cleaning.
After completion of the pre-diffusion processing, the pre-diffusion processing apparatus 110 requests the empty carrier 140 (to be used after processing) to retain the processed products. In response, the empty carrier 140 to be used after processing (dedicated for diffusion) is manually supplied.
The processed wafers are returned to the supplied empty carrier 140 to be used after processing which is then manually taken out, completing the pre-diffusion processing step.
The wafers subjected to the pre-diffusion processing are supplied to the diffusion processing apparatus 170 for diffusion processing. After the diffusion step, the products are supplied to the carrier replacing apparatus 180 that replaces the carrier dedicated for diffusion with a general-type carrier.
Thus, in the conventional method, the removed empty carrier 130 unloaded from the pre-diffusion processing apparatus 110 must be cleaned by the carrier cleaner 160 and conveyed to the carrier replacing apparatus 180. Furthermore, it is necessary to convey the replaced carrier dedicated for diffusion to the carrier cleaner 160 for cleaning. This means that carriers are transferred among the pre-diffusion processing apparatus 110, the diffusion processing apparatus 170, the carrier replacing apparatus 180, and the carrier cleaner 160 in the plant, complicating the carrier transfer and replacement work and thereby increasing the cost due to an increase in the number of work steps to be employed. Further, since the conveyance of the carriers is manually carried out, a human error occurs.
In view of the foregoing, the present invention has been made, and an object of the present invention is to automate carrier replacement and transfer, omit carrier transportation work, and reduce the frequency of carrier cleaning.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a substrate carrier management system includes a substrate processing apparatus, a carrier cleaner, a carrier conveyer, and a controller. The substrate processing apparatus takes a substrate out of a carrier in which the substrate is stored, and performs predetermined processing on the substrate, and transfers the processed substrate stored in a carrier. The carrier cleaner cleans the carrier. The carrier conveyer conveys the carrier between the substrate processing apparatus and the carrier cleaner. The controller controls the substrate processing apparatus, the carrier cleaner, and the carrier conveyer.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program causing a computer to perform the following processes. A carrier storing a substrate is supplied to a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus causes to take the substrate out of the supplied carrier and to perform predetermined processing on the substrate. The carrier having been emptied as a result of taking the substrate out is supplied to a carrier cleaner. The cleaned carrier is returned to the substrate processing apparatus. After the predetermined processing has been completed, the substrate is stored in the cleaned carrier and is unloaded from the substrate processing apparatus.
According to the present invention, a carrier can be conveyed between a substrate processing apparatus and a carrier cleaner. Therefore, it is possible to automatically unload an empty carrier from the substrate processing apparatus and transfer it to the carrier cleaner prior to a step in which carrier contamination poses a problem, and automatically supply the substrate processing apparatus with an empty carrier to be used after processing. With this arrangement, it is possible to omit the manual carrier transportation work.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the following description.